Hou Yifan wins ‘Belt and Road’ online tournament

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/6/2020 – The now traditional Chinese chess tournaments in Danzhou are taking place this year despite the pandemic. An 8-player double round robin with all male participants is running on December 3-9, while a 10-player single round robin women’s tournament — with a faster time control — was played on Friday and Saturday. Hou Yifan, the rating favourite, finished in clear first place, a full point ahead of Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Official site, retrieved from chess.com

ChessBase 18 - Mega package ChessBase 18 - Mega package

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

More...

Not fully virtual

As usual, the strong tournaments organized in Danzhou, China have not been widely publicized outside the Asian country. The main event, an 8-player double round robin with four Chinese players and four international starts kicked off on Thursday and will run through December 9, while a two-day women’s event with 10 participants took place on Friday and Saturday.

The “Belt and Road World Chess Women Summit” was a single round robin event with a time control of 15 minutes for the game and 5-second increments from move 1 (the main tournament is played at a 15+10 time control). Former women’s world champion Hou Yifan was the top seed and won the event with a 6½/9 score.

Due to the pandemic, the tournament took place online, although it was not fully virtual — the Chinese participants all gathered at the Country Garden Havana Holiday Hotel to play their games, much like their male counterparts. The games were played on the chess.com platform.

The strong event included five (out of the 13) women players with a 2500+ FIDE rating. In the end, the highest-rated woman player in the world — by quite a margin — prevailed, albeit after suffering losses against Lei Tingjie and Nana Dzagnidze. A full point behind Hou, 23-year-old Iranian star Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and former women’s world champion Tan Zhongyi tied for second place.


Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.
1 Hou Yifan 6,5
2 Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 5,5
3 Tan Zhongyi 5,5
4 Lei Tingjie 5,0
5 Abdumalik Zhansaya 4,5
6 Muzychuk Mariya 4,5
7 Zhao Xue 3,5
8 Stefanova Antoaneta 3,5
9 Dzagnidze Nana 3,5
10 Atalik Ekaterina 3,0

Hou kicked off the event with four consecutive wins. In round 5, however, she was defeated by Dzagnidze out of an extremely sharp Sicilian. Hou had gone all-in from the get go, to which her Georgian colleague responded sharply, advancing on the kingside. Hou’s decisive mistake came on move 29:

 
Hou vs. Dzagnidze
Position after 28...hxg2

The engines think White has the better position here, but the only way to keep the edge was to play 29.Kg1 (29.Qxg2 is not as good, but keeps the battle going as well). Instead, Hou’s 29.Kxg2 gave way to the lethal 29...Qg4+, when White is lost in every line:

 
Position after 29...Qg4+

White tried to swindle her way out with 30.Qg3 fxg3 31.Bb5+ axb5 32.Rd8+:

 
Position after 32.Rd8+

32...Kxe7 wins the game, but not 32...Rxd8 33.exd8Q#.

The highest-rated woman player in the world bounced back with a win over Tan Zhongyi, was defeated by Lei Tingjie, signed her only draw of the event against Khademalsharieh and secured first place with a victory over second seed Mariya Muzychuk in the last round.


All games

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 Bg7 5.h3 c6 6.Be3 0-0 7.Nf3 e5 8.d5 Nh5 9.Nd2 Nd7 10.g3 a5 11.Be2 Nhf6 12.g4 Ne8 13.h4 Nc5 14.g5 cxd5 15.exd5 f5 16.Qc2 Na6 17.f3 f4 18.Bf2 Bf5 19.Nde4 Rc8 20.0-0-0 Rf7 21.Kb1 b6 22.Ka1 Nc5 23.Bxc5 bxc5 24.Nb5 Bf8 25.Bd3 Be7 26.h5 Ng7 27.Rdg1 Qd7 28.hxg6 hxg6 29.Rh6 Rff8 30.Nbxd6 Bxd6 31.Nf6+ Rxf6 32.gxf6 Bxd3 33.Qxd3 Qf5 34.Rgxg6 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Lei Tingjie2505Abdumalik,Z24781–02020E71World Chess Woman Summit1
Khademalsharieh,S2494Tan Zhongyi2510½–½2020D37World Chess Woman Summit1
Muzychuk,M2544Dzagnidze,N25241–02020B31World Chess Woman Summit1
Stefanova,A2466Hou Yifan26580–12020A45World Chess Woman Summit1
Atalik,E2430Zhao Xue24861–02020E11World Chess Woman Summit1
Abdumalik,Z2478Zhao Xue24861–02020C11World Chess Woman Summit2
Hou Yifan2658Atalik,E24301–02020B10World Chess Woman Summit2
Dzagnidze,N2524Stefanova,A2466½–½2020D13World Chess Woman Summit2
Tan Zhongyi2510Muzychuk,M25441–02020A45World Chess Woman Summit2
Lei Tingjie2505Khademalsharieh,S24940–12020C78World Chess Woman Summit2
Khademalsharieh,S2494Abdumalik,Z2478½–½2020E60World Chess Woman Summit3
Atalik,E2430Dzagnidze,N2524½–½2020E17World Chess Woman Summit3
Stefanova,A2466Tan Zhongyi25100–12020D00World Chess Woman Summit3
Zhao Xue2486Hou Yifan26580–12020E12World Chess Woman Summit3
Muzychuk,M2544Lei Tingjie2505½–½2020C51World Chess Woman Summit3
Abdumalik,Z2478Hou Yifan26580–12020B28World Chess Woman Summit4
Dzagnidze,N2524Zhao Xue24860–12020A17World Chess Woman Summit4
Tan Zhongyi2510Atalik,E24301–02020A45World Chess Woman Summit4
Lei Tingjie2505Stefanova,A24660–12020C02World Chess Woman Summit4
Khademalsharieh,S2494Muzychuk,M2544½–½2020E60World Chess Woman Summit4
Muzychuk,M2544Abdumalik,Z24780–12020C55World Chess Woman Summit5
Stefanova,A2466Khademalsharieh,S24940–12020A07World Chess Woman Summit5
Atalik,E2430Lei Tingjie2505½–½2020D26World Chess Woman Summit5
Hou Yifan2658Dzagnidze,N25240–12020B85World Chess Woman Summit5
Zhao Xue2486Tan Zhongyi25101–02020D37World Chess Woman Summit5
Abdumalik,Z2478Dzagnidze,N25240–12020B18World Chess Woman Summit6
Tan Zhongyi2510Hou Yifan26580–12020A31World Chess Woman Summit6
Lei Tingjie2505Zhao Xue24861–02020E05World Chess Woman Summit6
Khademalsharieh,S2494Atalik,E24301–02020D71World Chess Woman Summit6
Muzychuk,M2544Stefanova,A2466½–½2020B13World Chess Woman Summit6
Stefanova,A2466Abdumalik,Z24780–12020D90World Chess Woman Summit7
Atalik,E2430Muzychuk,M25440–12020A05World Chess Woman Summit7
Zhao Xue2486Khademalsharieh,S24941–02020A07World Chess Woman Summit7
Hou Yifan2658Lei Tingjie25050–12020C65World Chess Woman Summit7
Dzagnidze,N2524Tan Zhongyi25100–12020A15World Chess Woman Summit7
Abdumalik,Z2478Tan Zhongyi25101–02020C93World Chess Woman Summit8
Lei Tingjie2505Dzagnidze,N25241–02020B47World Chess Woman Summit8
Khademalsharieh,S2494Hou Yifan2658½–½2020E46World Chess Woman Summit8
Muzychuk,M2544Zhao Xue24861–02020C11World Chess Woman Summit8
Stefanova,A2466Atalik,E24301–02020A48World Chess Woman Summit8
Atalik,E2430Abdumalik,Z24781–02020A05World Chess Woman Summit9
Zhao Xue2486Stefanova,A2466½–½2020D10World Chess Woman Summit9
Hou Yifan2658Muzychuk,M25441–02020B30World Chess Woman Summit9
Dzagnidze,N2524Khademalsharieh,S2494½–½2020A13World Chess Woman Summit9
Tan Zhongyi2510Lei Tingjie25051–02020D00World Chess Woman Summit9

Links


Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.